A stray mortar bomb smashed through a house in Shaikhan village outside Peshawar on Sunday, killing three children and their mother and injuring their father, police said. “The victims were asleep. A mother and her three children died on the spot,” Shafiullah Khan, a senior police officer told AFP. The two sisters and their brother were aged between two and nine years, Khan said. The officer said it was not yet clear who fired the mortar bomb, but troops and militant leader and Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh’s fighters exchange fire on a daily basis. More than 250,000 people have fled the fighting in Khyber since January, according to Pakistani officials. Police, however, said militants must have fired at security forces but the shell missed the target and landed on the house.However, some locals claimed the attack was an outcome of personal enmity. A case was registered against unidentified miscreants and investigation was in progress.
Terrorist attack foiled, one policeman martyred: About a dozen armed terrorists attacked a police check- post at the Mian Kalay Jandol area in Lower Dir early on Sunday. The police managed to repulse the four-pronged attack; at the loss of 22-year old policeman, Usman Zada. The police cordoned off the area and launched a hunt for the attackers, arresting 20 suspects for investigation. The martyred policeman, Usman Zada of Lower Dir’s Banda, was buried with full honors, including a guard of honor by a police contingent. He is survived by his three -month -old son.
